A Redguard in Skyrim
by PratFacedPrince
Summary: Whoever you are you've found my journal. this means one of two things. either I'm famous (Which is pretty awesome) Or I'm dead (Which is not so awesome) inside your going to find my story. which is full of adventure, excitement, insanity and a whole lot of stupid decisions. have fun enjoy and be amazed at my awesome or not so awesome(Really depends on your perspective) adventures.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello this here is the journal of Jonathan Redguard adventurer extraordinaire. It also happens to be my first story ever. i wrote this as a way to try and ease my girlfriend into gaming. i figured shed like the story and try to try it for herself. hence the many explanations for things in the story. she kinda encouraged me to post it here and here it is now for all of you too enjoy. forgive any spelling mistakes i make and i hope you enjoy. if you feel like it leave a review. **

The journal of Jonathan

Entry 1

Ok I've screwed up. At the moment I am freezing my ass off in these accursed mountains in nothing but a not thick enough cloak, leather pants, and a simple red long-sleeved tunic. Why on earth did I ever ever ever think it was a good idea to cross the Jarl Mountains! If you could hear me whoever you are then you'd hear some deep sighing right about now. Anyway I realize I'm most likely getting ahead of myself and you're lost so let's cut back to the beginning of this strange tale that ends up with me currently freezing in the mountains.

First of all my name is Jonathan if you couldn't tell from the cover of the journal which is mine by the way. I'm a Redguard with a medium brown complexion and black hair that's put in shoulder length dreads, although I do tie them back on occasion. I've got a decent build and rather dashing scar under my left eye which I got in a wolf attack at age 14. (Word of advice DO NOT walk around the woods with hot meat...I was not a smart kid.) Anyway! The reason for me writing all this down is in case you find this and a shriveled up frozen corpse you'll know that said corpse was once a pretty cool guy.

So then now that you know what I look like and can safely identify my remains let's get on to my reason for being here. Sheer stupidity! Let me explain. I'm from the Redguard province of Hammerfell. I lived with my mother and a younger brother. My Dad died during the War with the High Elves when I was young, but thankfully he left me his love of the forge before he died. Yes that's right you're reading the journal of a master blacksmith! Ok apprentice, but I can make some pretty kick ass swords….well I can make a sword. So anyway I'm getting sidetracked this colds getting to me. Umm what I wanted to say is why I'm here. Basically when I turned 21 which I think was close to a year ago I decided that I wanted to travel and see more of the world then my little village. So I kissed my mother goodbye, packed up some supplies and set out for adventure. Only problem was adventure cost money and I had none. So I was limited to walking places, no fancy horses, or caravans, or ships for me. Nope I got foot power. So I traveled were I could, finding adventure and excitement along the way. The first place I went to was high rock and saw how the Bretons ran their country. It was a strange place and full of many interesting people. There was this one red headed mage in training who caught my attention but sadly I fear I may not get to see her again now. High rock only increased my taste for adventure. I thought I was so cool after fighting a few bandits and killing a few goblins that I figured I could take on the world! And thus I came to the wonderful decision to go back to Hammerfell and walk across the Jarl Mountains so I could cross into Cyrodil the home of the imperials and the capital of the empire. It was actually pretty easy at first but after a week it wasn't much fun anymore and after two I wanted to turn and go home but I just couldn't. I wanted to see the Imperial city. Heck I wanted to look at the white gold tower in the center. Maybe visit the shops and the different cities and look at the different smithing techniques if I found the time. I've always heard that Cyrodil is the place to be for a wanderer so I knew I had to be there. And now in freezing in the mountains with no map…brilliance at its finest.

So that dear journal reader person whoever you are is how I got here. The snow has lessened a bit sense yesterday so hopefully I'm close to the end of this stupid trip. Once I get into Cyrodil things will be easy and I'll buy a fucking boat to take me home. But as of now I'm still cold and getting sleepy. Thanks for reading the journal whoever you are. Hopefully you can turn the page to find that I'm happy and warm and in a bed with 6 girls….or that red head…that be nice too. Well I think that's enough writing for today. I expect if I survive this mountain my entries will probably get longer you know kick ass adventures and all that giving me more to write. But I think that's enough for today I need to catch some sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

The journal of Jonathan

Entry 2

I can't believe I'm alive! Ok that's a bad way to open a journal entry I know but its true! So much has gone on since my first one and now ive finally got a moment of quite to write it all down! So when I made my last entry about three days ago I thought I was dead. I was freezing, hungry, and pretty much giving up but by some stroke of luck I woke up in the morning instead of drifting off into the long sleep like I thought. So when I woke up I did the only thing I could do, grab my remaining supplies and start walking. I went on for about an hour or two before I notice the snow had stopped. I could have cried tears of joy at that! The sky was clear and lack of snow meant I must have been close to the ground and therefore Cyrodiil. Feeling renewed I kept walking down the mountain with an actual smile on my face. By the afternoon I could see trees and by night I saw an actual campfire. I knew that I had made it; id survived and was going to live. I got so excited I started to sort of run for the fire. It was slightly difficult to run on a downward slope but I didn't care! I just knew I was safe and had done the impossible!

As I got closer to the firee I could see people standing around it. I saw some in red and could see the gleam of armor from the fire so I figured it was imperials talking with mountain men or something. I was about to shout a greeting to them when I made my first catastrophic mistake of the day. In my haste id stopped watching the ground and my foot clipped a stone sending me in a downward tumble face first. Thank the gods there was snow to cushion me but still it hurt like hell! The world went from normal into a constant state of snow, sky, snow, sky and a whole lot of pain. I was stuck thrashing around trying to stop myself and only succeeding to get tangled up in my cloak. It's a miracle in itself I didn't die or break anything. But finally my tumble came to an end when I felt no more ground under me and realized I must have rolled of the mountain and was in free fall. I would have screamed if not for the fact that my free fall lasted all of one second before I smacked into something very very hard that shouted in surprise and anger.

I looked groggily to find beneath me was a Redguard woman. She had a pinched face that I think was probably born in a scowl and stayed that way. She also had a blind left eye and a severe hair cut covered by her big imperial helmet which really pulled together the whole dangerous angry lady look I think she was going for. She looked up at me with a look that I think kills small children and I naturally smiled back and got off her.

"Sorry sister" I said politely but then it kicked in that she was an imperial and probably an officer judging by the helmet so I corrected myself. "I mean sorry ma'am this wasn't supposed to happen,"

I reached an arm to help her up when she rejected it and stood up on her own and took a nasty looking mace out of her belt.

"Um no need to be hasty there!" I said putting my hand on my sword. "We can all just go our separate ways and nobody has to fight anyone." Had I had any intelligence at all I would have noticed that the imperials and the other men were all staring at me and the tension was so thick you could feel it but instead I was focused on the scary lady who responded to my reasonable statement with "Shut your mouth Stormcloak!" and then proceeded to rush at me with her mace.

"The fucks a Stormcloak!" I yelled dodging her attack. She didn't feel like answering and was more focused on causing my demise. So I dodged around and then saw all hell breakout as the mountaineers who for the first time I noticed were all in blue attacked the Imperials. So of course I had to fight back against the crazy soldier woman so with sword in hand we battled. She was better trained then me but I was stronger and I thought id gotten the advantage when she swung and snapped my sword in two with her stupid mace. Like an idiot I looked at my busted sword and said "That's just not fair." But clearly she didn't share my sentiment and used my moment of shock to smack me upside the head with her mace. I fell down into the snow with my ears ringing barley conscious I could hear someone with a deep voice yelling "STAND DOWN STAND DOWN" and I looked up to see the woman looking over me with contempt I would have said something but she beat me to it saying "Filthy Stormcloak" and sent her boot into my face with a vicious kick. After that all I saw was black.

I faded in and out of consciousness for a day until I finally woke up with my things taken from me and my hands bound sitting in a cart with a blond man looking at me curiously. "Hey you. Finally awake?" he asked me "you were trying to cross the border right?" he gave a little laugh that had no mirth in it. "Walked right into that imperial ambush, same as us and the horse thief" he nodded back to a dirty skittish black haired young man who was in the cart with us. "What? Ambush? " I asked still groggy. He was about to respond when the horse thief angrily said "Damn you Stormcloaks! Skyrim was fine before you showed up! " he went on grumbling about some sort of escape plan to Hammerfell but I wasn't listening. I was in too much shock at the moment having his words sink in. I hadn't made it to Cyrodiil id gotten turned around and walked into Skyrim! And worse they thought I was some kind of criminal. I didn't come back to reality until I heard the blond say "A Nords last thoughts should be of home." That made the dark haired guy freak out. He started calling on all of the gods begging for them to save him.

Soon we rolled into a town and the blond looked around sadly saying "This is Helgen. I used to be sweet on a girl from here." He started reminiscing about how she made mead with juniper berries. When we stopped I looked and saw the Redguard woman from earlier looking at me still just as angry as before with another solider. The horse thief started to freak out saying "we aren't rebels!" But the blond told him to stop being a coward and face his death with dignity. Although he didn't listen anyway and went on yelling but the solider ignored him and started calling out names.

"Ulfric Stormcloak Jarl of Windhelm." A man stepped forward who I had not noticed. He was a big man and looked like he came from money. His mouth was gagged as he walked forward. I heard the blond say "It has been an honor." Then the called his name "Ralof of Riverwood." He walked forward silently and took his place in line. Then they called the horse thief and he panicked. "I'm not a rebel you cant do this!" he screamed as he took off running at top speed. The Redguard woman shouted "Archers!" and he was brought down instantly. She looked right at me and said "Anyone else feel like running?" daring me to try to escape. But I wouldn't give her the satisfaction I wouldn't die like a dog.

She frowned at my lack of activity and the solider called me forward "Who are you?" "I'm Jonathan." I told him simply. He wrote some things down and said "What was your business in Skyrim? Are you a mercenary or some kind of sailor?" I rolled my eyes at that. "Yeah because sailors walk through mountains. Just because I'm a Redguard doesn't mean I like boats." He nodded and said "Well you're not on the list…what should we do with him captain?" he asked the angry Redguard woman. "Forget the list. He goes to the block." surprise there I thought as I walked into line.

As we got into line a Priestess started to go through a prayer and some angry Stormcloak jumped up and said to execute him now. He walked up to the block arrogantly saying his ancestors were smiling at him. I heard mixed cries of anger and happiness as he was executed along with something like a roar in the background. Next the angry captain looked at me and said "Next prisoner." So I was forced to walk forward and kneel at the block. I thought of my family that id never see again, that red head, and all of the other things id never get to do again and I prayed that somehow there would be a way out of this. It turns out the goods have a strange sense of humor because at that very moment the heads man raised his axe a freaking dragon landed behind him and roared!

Then everything went bad like Oblivion itself had opened up! Fire began to rain from the sky somehow and people scattered. I followed Ralof the blond Stormcloak into a building with my hands still bound. There a few others in there including Ulfric himself. Ralof looked at him and said "Dragons! Could…could the legends be true!" he was obviously rattled and frankly I was too seeing your life flash before your eyes twice in 3 seconds is not fun. But Ulfric seemed to be fine. He looked at Ralof calmly and said "Legends don't burn down villages." A few of the others said we needed to go and I had to agree with them. As we headed up the tower though the dragon burst its head in and looked dead at me. Thankfully I jumped down the stairs in time before it blasted fire at us. Some of the others weren't so lucky though. It flew away and left us in a tower that now smelled like soot and charred flesh. We went to the hole and Ralof said I had to jump into the inn across from us. I looked at him like he was insane and told him the Inn was on fire! But he pointed out it was either that or wait for the dragon to come back so I did the dumbest thing ever. I jumped. The landing was jarring and hurt like hell but I had to keep moving I could hear the dragon roaring somewhere and I knew the inn was definitely not safe. So I ran into the chaos that had taken over Helgen. The soldier who had read the list found me and told me to stick with him. I did and we ran through the town trying to escape the insanity. The dragon was everywhere at once! Breathing fire, biting soldiers and throwing them wherever it saw fit to. Men shot arrows and mages shot fire and lightning at it to no avail. The dragon brushed it all off and kept on its path of destruction. It seemed like I was doomed anyway, I could hear it behind us now when we turned the corner and in front of us were two towers. The soldier Yelled "Either one will take us out of here! Come on!" I was about to follow him into one when I saw Ralof at the other opening the door "Wait!" I shouted and ran to Ralof he saw me and held the door open long enough for me to get in then shut and locked it behind him.

I crashed on the floor and caught my breath "Where are the others at?" I asked still wheezing. "We got separated. Come on we need to go." He looked at my hands and for the first time noticed my hands were still bound. "But first we need to get rid of those." He cut them off and looked at me seeing I was still in the prisoner rags they had given me. "Here take those clothes over there" he pointed at a dead Stormcloak. He won't need them anymore. I grimaced as I changed into the dead man's chainmail and blue leathers but I knew I needed something more protecting. Ralof handed me an axe and said lets go when we heard the sounds of two voices coming from within. He shushed me and hid behind the door that lead deeper into the tower and waited when the door opened and in walked the Captain and a random imperial. When she saw me she snarled and grabbed her mace while I reached for my axe and charged at her. The fighting was quick and vicious and was playing out like the last fight but this time I had a sturdier weapon. So when she hit the axe it didn't break. Instead I smacked her helmet distracting her just long enough for me to slam my axe into her stupid neck. She looked up at me with hatred as she died. I saw Ralof had killed the other one so I took the dead imperials sword and the two of us made our way through the tower going further and further down. We had to fight imperials along the way and Ralof kept making me do things like pick a lock or use a bow I think so he could see my skills.

Eventually we met up with some others who asked about Ulfric. Ralof told them that he had most likely made it out and that eased their minds. As we ran I noticed a small blue book and picked it up. I hid it away in a pack I had grabbed and kept moving. We were almost out when I found the Storage room. I told Rolaf and the others to wait as I went and looked around in it. Sure enough lying in a chest was my cloak! So I grabbed that and we made our way to the bottom of the tower which had a small bridge that crossed into an underground cavern. Ralof and I crossed but there was a big shake and it collapsed trapping the others behind. "Damn! Well make our own way out" one of the Stormcloaks shouted and Ralof knew we didn't have time to argue so we kept moving. We had walked for about 5 minutes when I began to hear a faint skittering noise; I looked up and saw a group of huge giant spiders looking back at me. They jumped of the ceiling and were on us like lightning! The smallest came up to my chest and the biggest two could have easily been as tall as horses. Their fangs were like glittering black daggers and I hoped they killed you before the poison did. Id seen what tiny spiders could do to people I didn't want to know what this kind could do. Ralof and I had no choice but to fight back to back to keep these things away but somehow we survived! I could barely believe it.

After that it was simply walking in the cavern until my final threat for the day showed up in the form of a big black bear that was sleeping close to the entrance of the cave. "Careful" Ralof said "We can sneak past her and be out of here." He said obviously worn out from all of the crap we had been through today. But me no I was angry. I was angry that everything had happened today, that I was even here in the first place and that now I couldn't even leave a cave easy a stupid bear had to get in the way after everything id done! So I told Ralof "No. fuck that I've killed 7 men today and three giant spiders. That bears going down." I grabbed the bow off of my back and notched an arrow. "Are you nuts!?" Ralof asked frustrated. "Nope" I told him as I fired the arrow at the bear. It didn't kill it only pissing it off but I had a good few arrows. It rushed at us roaring but by the 6th shot it went down. "Well I'll be damned" Ralof said surprised "let's go". We walked out of the cavern and into the sunlight.

After we walked out Ralof sat against a rock and Laughed "Woo we made it!" I couldn't help it and smiled "Yeah we did." He laughed louder. "Listen my sister is in Riverwood which isn't too far from here. Come with me, shell give you a place to stay. She's just up the river a bit"

I told him ok but to go on ahead I needed to rest. So he left me and I sat there thinking what the fuck happened? After a light rest I got up and followed the river like he said and found my way quickly to Riverwood. When I got there I asked a boy I saw for Ralof. He pointed at a house saying "His sister lives there." I thanked him and walked inside the house to find him sitting at a table with a woman and bearded man. Ralof laughed and said "Here he is now! The boy I told you about." His sister smiled and said "Thank you for protecting my brother. Was there really a dragon?" "Yeah" I told them "It was massive." "Talos save us!" she said "Listen you go to sleep you look tired. There's fresh clothes and food for you. We can talk tomorrow." So I ate some bread and cheese and then came into the bedroom they allowed me to sleep. But sadly I'm to wired to sleep and began writing this instead but now I have nothing left to write so I think I'll give sleep a try. I'm not sure what to think about all of this. It felt like that dragon was hunting me. Not just killing at random but it wanted me specifically. But that's stupid it can't want me. I'm just reading too much into things. Tomorrow I will need to start figuring out a way out of this place but for now I need sleep. Hopefully the next entry will be some good news.


	3. Chapter 3

The journal of Jonathan

Entry 3

Well reader person whoever you may be, it's been an exciting day since my last entry. Full of danger adventure and even romance (not mine by the way) so ill start as usual where I finished last time. After my last entry I laid down and fell asleep pretty easily, this was a bit of a surprise for me. But my dreams where just nightmares about Helgen sadly. When I woke up the next morning I could see by the look in Ralof's eyes he hadn't slept well either. We all gathered in the living room and then Ralofs sister began to speak.

""First of all I'm Gerdur. And this is my husband Hod." She said gesturing towards the man who sat at the table next to her. He simply nodded. "And thank you again for protecting Ralof" she said with a smile "But now I need to ask you another favor." "um sure " I said "You let me stay here and gave me food so I'll be happy to repay the favor."

She smiled at that and went on "If there is a dragon in the area then we need protection. Please go to the Jarl at Whiterun when you leave here. These lands are his and we need the protection of his men if we want any hope of defending ourselves from a dragon."

"Yeah I'll do that." I told her "But umm where's Whiterun? And what's a Jarl?" I asked confused.

"O right sorry I forget you're not from here" she said apologetically. "The Jarl is a lord. He runs the province and we swear fealty to him like a governor or a count." She said explaining. "Whiterun is the city of our Jarl. It's a ways away from here but if you follow the road you'll be there soon enough." She assured me.

"Ok thanks then" I told her "Now if I'm going to help you I need to know where I can get supplies and a new blade." I held up the Imperial sword I had now. "This is standard issue among Imperials if I have it that will raise some unnecessary questions so a new one is essential, plus the balance is a bit off." I explained.

"Ah I see. Well Talk to Alvor the local blacksmith about the new blade and then go to the Riverwood Trader for supplies. Its run by Lucan Valerius. " She told me. "They're both down the street from here. If you need work then you can go to the lumber mill. I own it and will pay you fair wages." I stood up from the table and thanked her and her husband and with a final wave to Ralof I went outside and made my way to the blacksmith. I looked around as I walked and saw that Riverwood was a simple small town. The buildings were all wood and the air smelled fresh from the nearby woods. I could hear the river nearby and the sound of some men working at the mill. All in all it seemed like a nice place to live. When I approached the smithy I saw a huge man in an apron working the forge I walked over to him and asked "Excuse me can I use your forge?" he looked at me making a quick assessment "Ok…If you can make me a dagger." He handed me some material and sat back to watch me work. "Um right. Ok then" I said as I went to the forage and heated up the iron he gave me. It wasn't long before id finished and made him a simple dagger. "How's this" I asked him smiling at my work. "Decent but it's a bit dull sharpen it for me." So after I went and sharpened the dagger I showed it to him. He tested it on a piece of leather and nodded with approval. "It's a good knife, here keep it." He said handing it to me. "Now make me a hide helmet and your free to go."

I rolled my eyes but did as he asked It took an hour or so to make the helmet then another 20 minutes to reinforce it like he wanted but after that I was free to use the forge. He laughed inspecting the helmet "Where did you learn your skills?" "In Hammerfell. Mt father was a smith" I informed him. He nodded "You have talent just keep working at it and hey don't forget me when you're making sky forge steel!" he laughed at his joke and walked of leaving me confused on whatever the hell sky forage steel is. But I figured it wasn't important and got to the task of making my own sword. I took a bit of iron and steel and began putting it together to make the blade. Soon I had the basic shape set and just had to let it sit overnight. So I left it and went to explore more of Riverwood.

Leaving the forge I made my way towards the lumber mill to see a Wood elf walking my way. He was short like his kind usually are, I doubted he was much taller than 5'6 or 5'7. He looked at me and asked "Have you seen Sven?" "Um I don't know who that is." I told him honestly "He's a big blond Nord who spends his day singing stupid poems instead of doing his job at the mill." He responded with an angry undertone.

"O you don't like him much?" I asked and he responded with an exasperated sigh "He's lazy, got no talent and he's trying to use his stupid poetry to win Camilla Valirius, as if she'd be impressed by his stupid poems." "Right" I joked "because words of passion and displays of affection have never worked on women ever."

"Wait you don't think shed actually fall for that ass do you?" he asked looking nervous. "No no no she can't! Umm wait here" the wood elf ran off and came back a few minutes later with a letter. "Here give this to Camilla I think I've matched that hacks style well enough." I took it from him and looked at it "Ok is she in the Trader with Lucan?" I asked recognizing the last name. "Yeah that's her brother. No go on hurry up and deliver it!" he told me. I sighed and told him ok. As I got to the door of the Trader it accrued to me that I should probably meet this Sven guy before ruining his relationship so I walked down the street to the Inn and walked inside to find him playing a lute in the corner with a drink next to him. He wasn't a bad looking guy I suppose. Long blond hair and blue eyes, he had a care free and happy air to him. As I walked over he smiled and said "Ah a traveler! What can I do for you?" I sat next to him and told him "Not much I'm just passing through. Hey do you know a girl named Camilla?" He didn't even have to hesitate "Yep she's my girl! Why do you ask?" I told him about the wood elf and he responded "The elf playing at treachery? Shocking." He looked over the letter and said in a dramatic fashion "As if I would write this dribble" he took out a quill and began to quickly write on a piece of paper. He looked at me while writing and said." How about we play a bit of turnabout with Faendal?" after a few moments he handed me what he was writing. "Here I had to use simple words, but this letter should convince Camilla it's from him." I looked at him "you sure you want to do this?" "Yep" he responded quickly "No way that elf's going to take Camilla from me! Especially not with a stupid trick like that!" he tossed Faendals letter into the flame. "Now you go ahead I'll be here when you get back."

So I left and went back to the Trader feeling I had done the right thing. As I entered I saw two tan imperials arguing. I could only assume the woman was Camilla. I walked in as she shouted at her brother "Well one of us has to do something!" he sighed and responded "We are done talking about this." This obviously wasn't what she wanted to hear. She got furious. I saw her hands ball into fist as she yelled at him "Well what are you going to do then, huh? Let's hear it!" her brother clearly had had enough and shouted back "I said no! No adventures, no theatrics, no thief-chasing!" they finally noticed me then and he instantly calmed down "Oh, a customer. Sorry you had to hear that." He said apologetically.

"Um its fine." I told them "I'm just here to deliver a letter to Camilla." She looked at me and said "Well I'm right here." I could tell that unlike her brother she wasn't so good at turning the anger off. I handed it to her and told her it from Faendal. She read it and by the end ripped up and tossed it into the fire. Then she turned to me "Well you tell that long eared ass he is not welcome around here ever again!" I don't know what Sven wrote but whatever it was it was certainly effective. I almost thought she'd breathe fire at me like that dragon. I told her to have a nice evening and walked out heading back to the inn. When I got inside Sven practically flew at me "Well how did it go?! Did she buy it?" I scratched my head and told him "Yep it worked like a charm. I don't think he'll want to even walk near her on the street anymore…what did you write?" Sven got a mischievous look and said "Nothing much I just had to write all high and pompous like him and everything fell into place." Then he clapped his hands together and grinned. "Now then, about your reward!" he went into a coin purse and handed me about 40 gold "Here it's all my tips from the past month. You've earned it!" he said happily "And if you ever need anything let me know ok?" he patted me on the shoulder and went off singing and strumming his lute.

I left the inn and stood around wondering what to do next. After checking on my sword I decided I'd go and explore the nearby woods before night fell. So I wandered out of the city gate and headed east simply walking taking in the air. The woods were beautiful. They smelled of pine from the trees and were filled with the sounds of wild life. I heard a deer drink from the river and saw a fox dart across the road. I was so caught in enjoying nature that I didn't notice the Orc who had crept up behind me until he bashed me with his shield. I tumbled forward and rolled into a defensive position just in time to see the muscular green bandit slash at me with his axe. Thankfully I was able to move out of the way and pull out my own sword.

"Do we really have to do this? I mean come on I was just going for a walk in the woods! No need for violence." I said looking for an opening to end the fight quickly.

"Shut it!" the Orc said "You walked to close to the mines." He informed me. "Bosses orders. No one can know were here." He stated.

I couldn't help but look at him funny though. "Ummm….I didn't know there was a mine here until you said anything." He cursed and said "Well now you do so it doesn't really matter! Look just die!" he yelled frustrated as he rushed towards me. I dodged to the right and slashed at his calf, when he fell forward I quickly got behind him and stabbed him through. "So about this mine. Where is it?" he coughed and fell down. "50 paces back, down a slight incline it's easy to find." He said through his coughs. "Now go so my friends can avenge me!" he said sounding surprisingly calm all things considered. I pulled my blade out of him and with a shudder he died. Taking a few moments to grab his shield and look for any other useful things on him I headed back and sure enough I found the mines.

As I entered I grabbed a torch of the wall and slowly made my way deeper in. I almost stepped on a wire trap but I noticed it at the last second and avoided it. Getting to the mouth of the tunnel I saw a wooden bridge over a small underground pond and two bandits relaxing next to a campfire on a patch of land that was next to the bridge connected by a small staircase. One of them felt nervous about being here and said anybody could find them but his companion reminded him that they set a trap and had a guard so there position was completely safe. I guess they never planned on their guard being a complete dumbass. The confident bandit told the paranoid one to get some sleep and it was his turn for watch. He got up and climbed the stairs and started to cross the bridge coming towards me. Thinking fast I took out my bow and notched an arrow quickly firing a shot that got him in the neck. It would have been a perfectly silent kill if he hadn't bungled it all by rolling off the bridge into the pond making Mr. Paranoid hop up with a shout. "Bjorn! Was that you?" he walked onto the bridge as I hid behind a rock and sadly he noticed the blood. "O shit! Who's there?!" he yelled as he started to back away from his comrades blood. Since I didn't have any other idea on what to do I decided to as usual do something stupid.

I jumped up from behind the rock I was hiding behind with my sword in hand leaving the shield and bow on the ground. "Hello! I'm Jonathan" I said taking a bow "And I'm the one who shot your buddy. It was for a good reason though! You guys are bandits and your Orc buddy attacked me in the woods. Leading me to believe that if I leave you guys hear you'll hurt more people so I'm gonna have to put a stop to that." I smiled and dropped into an easy fighting stance. "You can fight or run. Choose fast." Sadly he made the wrong choice instead of dropping his sword he charged at me. When we clashed it became instantly apparent why he was so skittish. He was awful! He clearly had never fought with someone who knew how to fight back! He probably only ever went against old people or fat merchants. But a young handsome man with kick ass sword skills on the other hand was too much for him and after a minute I cut him down. I took his helmet and sword to replace the imperial one I needed to was a poorly made iron one but I knew it do for the time being.

I walked across the bridge and into the tunnel it connected too. Looking around not seeing much I kept walking and not paying attention walked past a guy guarding a stash. (Not my brightest moment) I didn't even notice the guy until he yelled "Who the hell are you!" when I turned around I saw this huge Nord in bits of armor yet for some reason his chest was naked I guess he thought it looked intimidating which in truth it was, especially when he pulled out the giant war hammer. I dodged his first swing and his second and luckily his third swing smashed into a wooden beam and actually caught his hammer. As he tried to pull it out I stabbed him through and searched him finding a key for the chest and some coins.

I went and opened the chest to find an actually pretty nice piece of iron armor which I put on along with another weird book. It made me remember that I already had a book like that on me but it was blue. I looked in my pack and pulled it out. When I opened it the words swam across the page. The more I looked and the harder I concentrated the more they spun and swirled. My head began to hurt when suddenly the book disintegrated and my hand was filled with lightning! I looked as the sparks flew from one finger to another and I couldn't help but grin like an idiot. I went around for a good 5 minutes going zap and shooting lightning at the wall before I realized I was getting tired and still in the cave. But still I couldn't believe I had found not one but two spell tomes! I had heard that with one of these a person could learn any spell. But I never knew it was true. Even though I'm pretty shitty with magic (I only used fire magic to help with the forge at home and it was pretty basic stuff) I could now cast a lightning spell! It was pretty weak sure but by the gods it was cool! So after a bit of time I figured out how to go deeper in the cave by opening a locked door and saw a lever. Having no idea what else to do I just flipped it and was pleasantly surprised as I heard the clang of a piece of the bridge way back crashed loudly into place. The next thing I heard were the voices of two vey pissed bandits coming my way. After quickly dispatching/looting them I walked back to the bridge and followed the new part into a different section of the mine. In there unsurprisingly were three more bandits! An archer, a woman with a sword, and a psycho with an axe who was yelling something about making me into a coat. I fought them all off but I got hurt in the fight thanks to the stupid archer. But finally the bandits were all dead! I grabbed the various items I could find and was ready to leave when I noticed the forge. I walked over to it and saw a nearly finished rapier. Of course I couldn't leave a thing of beauty like that behind. So I took about 30 minutes or so to finishing it. When it was done I examined it. The blade was beautiful, very well balanced and probably great for stabbing things. So I ditched the shitty iron sword and made my way out of the cave and back to Riverwood.

When I got there I went to Alvor and started selling him some of the things I found he got a look on his face but he stayed silent until we were done with business. I was about to leave when he asked me what had been on his mind. "How many bandits did you kill?" "What?" I asked jumping in surprise "Don't be coy boy. Answer the question. How many." He said evenly "Nine." I told him. "That's nine lives you ended. Nine souls you've sent to sovengard, nine people who have no tomorrows. Can you live with that?" I frowned at his question "Yeah…I don't like it. But they were bad, somebody had too. They were right outside of town in a mine." He nodded "They might have tried to attack us. You did the right thing. But remember never take killing lightly ok."

"Yeah ok." I told him "I'll be back for my sword tomorrow." As I left I heard him sigh. I couldn't help but roll my eyes as I walked towards the trader to sell the rest of my extra crap. I won't turn into a blood thirst monster. I don't like killing but I can live with it when it's necessary, it doesn't bother me much, maybe that's bad but that's the way I see things. If someone survives off of hurting others then I won't mourn them. These were the thoughts that flowed in my head as I walked into the trader.

I casually sold Lucan my stuff and then absentmindedly asked him about what had been stolen. He became a little uncomfortable and told me "we had a bit of a break-in." he admitted "But we still have plenty to sell." He assured me quickly "Robbers were only after one thing. An ornament, solid gold. In the shape of a dragon's claw."

"Ah that sounds pretty valuable." I told him listening. "Yeah the bandits, I think they took it to Bleak falls Barrow. It's not very far to the north east of here." He told me. "Ok I'll go get it back for you." I told him getting ready to leave when Camilla showed up again "So this is your plan, Lucan?" she asked looking at me. "Yes. So now you don't have to go, do you?" he told her with a grin. "Oh really? Well I think your new helper here needs a guide." She said smugly putting her hand on me. Lucan became completely flustered and tried to find a counter argument but only came up with "Wh- no... I... Oh, by the Eight, fine. But only to the edge of town!" he waved his hand at the two of us in frustration and Camilla grabbed me by the hand and started dragging me off grinning. I followed her to a bridge at the edge of town where she stopped and told me the directions to the barrow. After listening I told her I had it memorized and satisfied with her defiance of her brother she left and went home and I looked up at the mountain id have to navigate to get to the barrow. "Yeah ill deal with that tomorrow." I said to myself as I walked back to Gerdurs house. They must have been at the Inn because the house was empty. So I helped myself to food and laid down to write this. Now that I'm done I'll be going to sleep and tomorrow ill figure out how to deal with this barrow place.


	4. Chapter 4

The journal of Jonathan

Entry 4

Bleaks falls barrow. That was the place on my mind when I woke up this morning. I dreamed about it the night before with vivid visions of dragons and bandits along with other things hiding in the dark. I didn't know how or why when I woke up but I knew without a doubt that this place would be important. So I took my undertaking seriously. When I left Gurders house I went straight to Alvors forge and checked on the blade. It was coming along well and would be done by the afternoon. So with that done I decided to spend some times working on my gear.

I made myself a new fur cloak and reinforced the hood with bits of iron so It would be warm and protect my skull. Then I made myself armor that was a mix of leather and iron so as to give me a good range of motion and not be to heavy but at the same time protect me well. Along with a pair of leggings that matched the armor with the same Leather and iron style I had a pair of imperial steel boots. After a look in the river I was proud to say that I looked pretty dashing and just a bit dangerous. I also noted that I looked rather different from the scared freezing dumbass who crossed the mountains only a few days before. I looked across the river at the mountain that the Barrow rested on and knew it was time to set out but first I had one last thing to take care of.

So without delay I went to the Inn and sure enough there was Sven enjoying himself idly strumming on his lute. When he saw me he laughed and said "Jonathan! You're looking well. About to leave on a new adventure?" I smiled back at him and told him "Yeah I have a bit of a task to take care of." "Great!" he said smiling "I wish I could go with you! Oh the songs I could write about our epic journeys!" he laughed at that and took a drink from a nearby mug. I let him finish his drink and go back to strumming his lute before I spoke. "Good! I need a companion anyway so I'll be calling in that favor of yours." Sven's eyes shot open wide and he made a very unmelodious twang on his lute. "Excuse me?! Um I mean of course I've been waiting for the call to action!" he said trying to save face. With a deep swallow and a quick nervous look around he asked me "Umm for the sake of curiosity…where exactly are we going for your task?" "Bleak falls barrow." I told him simply but by the look on his face you'd have thought I'd said we were taking a stroll through Oblivion.

"Bleak falls barrow! But but it's filed with!" "Bandits I know." I said cutting off his sentence. "But listen don't worry it's probably not a lot. I'd guess 6 to 8 at the most now come on. We need to get you some clothes."

"Bandits?" he asked confused then shook his head and stood up "Yes bandits, your right of course. Anything else in there would have been cleared out." He said more to himself then me. "What else would be in there?" I asked him as we walked back to Alvors. "Nothing. It's not important forget I said anything." He told me as we walked to the forge.

"Ok then." I said warily. "Alvor I need that armor back I gave you." I said to the blacksmith who was hammering away at something. You mean the armor you sold me? "He corrected. "Yeah Sven's coming with me and he needs gear. "I said trying not to roll my eyes "Ok but you'll have to pay." I handed him most of my cash and tossed Sven the armor. He put it on and I was surprised that like the bandit who had previously worn it he left his chest bare.

"Ummm Sven, don't you need a shirt at least?" he looked at his chest and said "no. A Nord will fight naked if necessary. And my shirt would get in the way. Ill just go as the armors intended to be worn, besides as long as I keep moving out of their way I can't get stabbed can I?" he said with a grin. It seemed his earlier anxiety about our location was being replaced with excitement for adventure. "Now how's about a weapon?" he asked me. I was glad for the darkness of my skin otherwise I might have blushed. "Well… the thing is…I don't actually have enough for a weapon for you." Sven looked at me incredulously. "So you mean I'm going to have to fight bandits and gods know what else with my damn dagger?!" he said pulling out a small rusty blade from a sheath on his belt. "Well, pretty much. I mean until we can find you something better." I said trying to reassure him. "Just great." Sven said with a theatric sigh. "Well let's go. It looks like I'll be seeing sovengard sooner than expected." I heard Alvor laughing to himself as we walked away from the forge and began to make our way out of town.

"What is that anyway?" I asked him "Sovengard. Alvor said something about it the other day." Sven looked at me like I was stupid then realization hit. "O right! You're not a Nord so I guess you might not have heard of it. Sovengard is a place for fallen warriors. If you die in battle you go there. It's a mead hall were the feasts never end and mead always flows." He said dreamily. "I could sing a song about it for you." He offered "No thanks its fine." I told him not really in the mood for song. He shrugged and we began to talk about different subjects from our childhood to the girls we had kissed and the different things we had each done in our lives. It past the time well and soon we were on the mountain path that would lead us to the barrow. As we walked Sven asked me what I'm guessing had been eating at his mind for a while. "So how do you know it's just a few bandits?" "Well" I told him rationally "It's the only answer that makes sense. Think about it. What they have is a solid gold claw. " "That sounds pretty valuable to me" Sven pointed out. "It does but obviously it's not. Otherwise Lucan wouldn't have it on his front desk would he? No it's valuable but not by a ton." He nodded at my logic and I continued. "It does something. That's why they want it. Maybe magical powers or opens up a way to more riches. That's what I figure" Sven nodded in understanding me but then he asked. "Yeah but why would that mean it's a small amount of bandits?" "Well if you knew a way to get cool special powers or a ton of money and the only thing in your way was one man and some ruins would you tell a ton of people?" he thought about it for a little while. "Yeah I see your point." "Exactly! So logically its got to be a small group 6 to 8 at the most probably less."

"I hope your right." Sven said as we walked towards a small tower. It looked kind of run down and beat up. Most of the bricks on the upper level seemed to have disappeared. As we got closer to it I noticed two people standing around the doorway. Sven still was talking about something so I raised a hand and shushed him. He gave me a quizzical look and in response I pointed at the tower. He looked for a second and nodded when he saw the men. I motioned for him to go up the path and try to circle around to the front of the tower while I walked towards it on a slant. As I got closer I took out my bow and aimed at one of the bandits. After a few seconds I saw Sven was in place so I took the shot the arrow shot one of the men in the chest and he went down instantly. His buddy jumped back with a yelp and looked around in confusion then he made a yell in the tower calling to whoever was inside. He rushed away from the tower pulling out a sword and I jumped up and shot at him. The arrow missed but now he was aware of me. So he began to run towards me and pass Sven's hiding spot. As he ran in front of Sven, Sven jumped out with a yell and stabbed him with his dagger. The poor bandit let out a yelp of surprise and fell forward dead while Sven relieved him of his sword. "Now I can do some damage!" he said happily. "Good" I told him with a grin "See finding weapons is easy! Now let's go clear out the rest of that place." We walked into the tower to find a single bandit on the stairs of the tower. He tried to fight but he was out numbered and outclassed. After he was dealt with Sven and I checked around the tower to see if we could find anything of value. I found some cheese and wine and put it in my pack while he found some bread and a helmet. We were about to leave when I noticed a few red vials on the table which could only be healing potions. I snatched them up and placed them with my other things and we left the tower continuing up the mountain path.

As we neared the summit snow started to fall and I began to see stone structures and a huge stone staircase. It was slightly difficult to see thanks to the snow but the structures were clearly ancient. "There it is!" Sven told me talking over the wind that was starting to pick up "Bleak falls barrow. Come on let's get inside!" he said trying to move faster. He got to the edge of the stone stairs when I looked up to see a Wood elf archer standing above us at the top of the stairs with a drawn bow. "Shit Sven move!" I yelled running in front of him and raising my shield. I moved just in time the moment my shield was raised an arrow shot right into it with a loud thunk. I know if I'd been even a little slower either me or Sven probably would have been shot. But at the moment my only thought was to take care of the archer. I charged forward and the wood elf dropped his bow pulling out a small dagger. I don't know what his plan was but clearly it wasn't thought through well because a second later the snow was pink with his blood and Sven was taking his bow. I looked around and saw we were in what once had been a great outdoor plaza the floor we stood on was of carved stone and had some pattern on it but I couldn't make it out through the snow. We moved forward towards the center of it and looked around. To the left of the staircase lead down the mountain but to the right was a stone archway and the mountain itself it appeared they had built this place into the mountain. "Sven! How did they build this place in a mountain?" I asked looking at it in wonder. "The ancient Nords were great builders." He said as if that was a clear answer. "Thanks Sven that really cleared thing up" I told him sarcastically. We started to walk forward when we heard a woman's voice from behind us. "Hey! Were back! We couldn't find any meat though, ass breath over hear scared away the deer I was chasing." Sven and I stayed frozen in place not sure what to do as the woman kept talking casually "Anyway why are you two here? Shouldn't you be in that tower? We would have sent Karolas to get you." She must not have realized something was wrong yet but I knew this wouldn't last long. So I turned around and stabbed my sword into the snow and quickly raised my hand summoning the lightning spell I knew thanks to that book. Before she or the burly Redguard man who was with her could say anything I blasted her with lightning. She went back with a scream and I kept the pressure on her while Sven charged at the Redguard with a roar. They fought each other while I went to the woman who it turned out was a dark elf, her red eyes were open wide and totally unseeing. I could tell she was dead just from them alone I didn't need to see the marks the lightning had left her chest making her dark blue skin a burnt black. After looking at her body for a moment I looked up to see Sven was having difficulties defeating his opponent. The Redguard was a tough fighter and worse he was angry. I feared he'd do Sven in with his twin axes so I summoned up more lightning and blasted him as well. It wasn't enough to hurt him like it had done the dark elf but it stunned him and made him drop his axes in surprise with a yell. Which allowed Sven to cut him down with a vicious slice.

Sven dropped his sword and was doubled over panting exhausted from his fight, but after a moment he caught his breath enough to speak to me in short burst. "Where did you…how…lightning?!" I laughed as I picked up my rapier out of the ground. "A spell tome. I learned a little destruction magic in Hammerfell. I mainly used it to help with my blacksmithing techniques. So it wasn't that hard to switch from my little fire magic to basic lightning magic. " "You killed her" Sven said not exactly making sense but I could guess his meaning. "It's lightning Sven. Lightning stops hearts even simple lightning magic. Honestly I just got lucky. If I hadn't taken her by surprise she wouldn't have died probably. Now come on let's just go inside." I didn't want him to know but killing the dark elf had slightly upset me. I know she was a bandit and usually I don't give a damn if I kill one. But the way she spoke made her not seem so bad and more normal, not the kind of person that deserves a lightning bolt to the chest although in truth more likely than not she was.

As we walked to the door I took a second to look at it. I didn't understand why but it felt like something was in the air besides the cold. I shivered for a second before Sven snapped me out of it. "Come on! I don't exactly have a shirt you know!" he said impatiently "and whose fault is that?" I asked him jokingly "Yours for bringing me here now come on!" he went passed me and opened the door enough for us to get inside without hopefully alerting anyone.

As we walked inside I got my first look at the barrow and it looked like a massive old building. Bits of light filtered in from the holes in the ceiling but the main source of light was from a fire deeper in. I figured then there must have been some people so I tried to sneak up on them with Sven. Unfortunately I tripped over a dead rat (how gross is that?!) my unfortunate stumble alerted them to me so the bandits (Thankfully it was just two) jumped from their fire and attacked us. Sven defended me valiantly while I was trying to get up but once I finally got up I joined the melee instantly. I bashed one of the bandits in the throat and sliced my sword into his neck,. Then with a quick turn pulled the blade out and used the momentum to slash the throat of the other bandit.

"Way to go idiot." Sven said stretching his arms. "Could you have been any louder? I think the people in solitude heard that!" "O shut it. Look their dead so bandit problem solved. Now come on let's find this claw." We walked down the stairwell next to the bandit's fire and began to explore. After a good 10 minutes of nothing I was getting a bit restless when we spotted a lever in the middle of the floor in the chamber ahead and a dead body next to it the gate that would take us forward past the room containing the dead man was notably barred. "What happened to him?" I asked out loud looking around the room. "Well these places supposedly were booby trapped" Sven said nervously looking at the ground. "Watch your step and don't pull that lever!" I walked up to it and heard Sven shout "The fuck did I just say!?" "Shut it Sven I'm thinking not touching." I looked to my left and saw three pillars with faces on them. A bird, a snake, and a fish. I looked near the gate that barred our way and saw the broken statue head that held the same snake symbol in its mouth. I looked at it closer and looked up to find two more identical heads one with a snake and one with a fish. There was a bit of wall between the two that collapsed between the two. I got the feeling that the statue head on the round probably went between them.

"Sven. I have a plan" I told him walking towards the lever "What did I say about touching things." He said taking a step back. "Just trust me! Go to that pillar and turn it." He gave in after a second or two of internal debate and turned the pillar. Sure enough it turned revealing a snake picture. "Good! The poor sap was one off." I said as I gave the lever a tug. I'm pretty sure Sven was about to yell when he saw the bars go up giving us the freedom to delve deeper into the barrow. I grinned at him and he returned it with a frown. "Let's just keep moving." Was all he said so with a shrug we walked forward. After moving for a minute or two I began to notice the spider web concentration was beginning to increase a ton until an entire doorway was covered in them. They were huge thick webs too I knew I need my sword to get through it. "That's not comforting" Sven said eyeing the webbing. "It's just a web" I told him as I hacked at it. "Yeah but who made it?" he retorted "A spider duh." "But how big was it!" he shouted getting frustrated. "Could just be a lot of them" I said optimistically as I walked into the now web free doorway and into the chamber beyond which unsurprisingly was absolutely covered in webs.

"Help! Get me down" I heard a gruff voice say with more than a hint of panic in his voice. I looked to my left and saw a man entangled in another huge web that blocked the door way out. "Little spiders don't do that". Sven said growing pale. "Ok ok let's just get him down before it-" but I never did finish that sentence. I was interrupted by the appearance of a large spider bigger than any I had ever seen before drop out of the ceiling in front of us. "SHIIIIIIIIT!" was all I heard Sven say as the thing began to shuffle towards us awkwardly. It was then that I noticed the axe lodged in one of its massive limbs. Somebody (My bet was on the wrapped up guy) wounded it. But still it looked like it was pretty damn dangerous. I was trying to think up a battle plan when it chose for me. I felt a massive claw of its reach out and pull me right towards its maw. But thank the gods I had my sword out. With my arm fully extended I stabbed it in its head between two of its eyes. The beasts fangs twitched and moved as it tried to get at me but it was already impaled I hoped it wouldn't toss me in its fangs anyway but thankfully it didn't have the strength. After the most terrifying moment of my life of watching the vicious thins mouth twitching and trying to unsuccessfully reach me it stopped moving and I backed away pulling out my sword.

"Thank the gods you're here!" the ensnared man said. "Quick cut me down!" as I walked closer to him I noticed he was actually a dark elf. "Where's the claw" I asked making no move to free him. "I have it on me!" he said desperately. "Listen if you free me it's yours I swear!" "Fine." I told him "Claw first." "I can't! You have to cut me down." I sighed and cut him loose. He fell to the ground and stayed on his hands and knees. "You ok? " I asked reaching to help him up. "Yeah fine!" he said as he shot up and punched me in the face. He took off running and I fell on my butt. Sven shouted after him with an angry "hey!" and chased him. "Sure now you help!" I yelled remembering his lack of assistance during the spider incident. I got up and quickly ran after the two of them we chased him through about three rooms before I tackled him and stabbed him with my sword while he was on the ground. "Ha!" I said feeling victorious as I pulled the claw out of his satchel. "I win!" I turned around feeling awesome but my smile fell as soon as I saw the look of pure horror on Sven's face. He had gone paler then when he saw the spider. "Don't….don't move." Was all he said as he slowly started to back away. I don't even think he realized he was moving. I looked around and saw an empty room except for holes in the wall and the occasional coffin I didn't see anything special but then it dawned on me. This was a crypt, an ancient Nord crypt. He was probably having a religious freak out. "hey were ok Sven well leave no problem" I told him trying to calm him when I heard a pop noise. It was like the sound a book makes when it hasn't been opened for centuries. A dry pop. But this sounded so much more sinister. As I turned around to see what made the noise I was greeted with the sight of an emaciated blue arm pulling itself and the body it was attached to out of its hole in the crypt wall. When the creature was free I saw what it truly was. A corpse but perfectly preserved. It was nothing but blue skin taunt over dry bone. It had no hair on its head but a beard and it had these blue eyes. They were an unnatural blue soulless would be a good word to use. The creature fixed its eyes on me and raised its arm and began to speak to me in a rumbling gurgle language that I had no hope of understanding. It reached for the black blade from its belt and then made a shout. After that it charged forward and I was forced to fight this nightmare but in the background I began to hear the popping noise again and again and again. it was then that I realized just what Sven had been fearing all this time.


	5. Chapter 5

The journal of Jonathan

Entry 5

As I clashed with the creature I learned quite a bit about it. For starters despite the frailty of its appearance the thing was still strong. It probably was a great warrior when it was alive. But death had made the creature a bit slow. So I was able to kick it away and stab it. In that stab I learned its greatest secret. Although the things were strong like men and could fight and talk their bodies were still weak. My sword went through it like parchment. But as soon as my blade was out of it I had to dodge another who carried a giant axe. They still had numbers on their side and were quite good so I knew I had to be careful or id end up dead. I heard Sven in the background praying to the gods as more and more of the things came out of the walls. They all moved towards the two of us and Sven nearly screamed when the first one reached him. He was terrified but not terrified enough to not fight. He took out his sword and slashed into it with a look of panic on his face. His sword slashed into its shoulder and made it drop its own great two handed blade. But when sven attempted to lift his sword out it snapped in half. "Cheap piece of shit!" he shouted as he rolled out of the way of the sword strike of another monster. When he got back on his feet he stabbed the jagged remains of his blade into the face of the attacking creature then dived for the two handed sword that one had dropped a moment ago. With that in his hand he stabbed through one of the creatures and actually lifted it in the air completely impaling it on his blade. He threw the body of and whirled around hacking at another ones shield.

In this time id managed to kill quite a few of them myself and soon we cleared the room. Sven was shaking and breathing deeply. "You ok Sven?" I asked concerned. "NO!" he shouted "Dragur…the barrow is full of dragur. We have to get out now!" "We will." I told him "Soon just give me a moment." I walked over to the dead bandit's body and felt around his pack. I found what I'd felt earlier, a journal. It was a bit beat up but easy to read so I flipped through it and found what I needed. There was some kind of power inside and the claw was the key. "Sven we need to go find this power thing. We have to go deeper." I told him "What are you crazy?! NO! Absolutely not!" "Sven look. We handled the dragur things didn't we? We can deal with a couple more. Imagine what's at the end of this place though! Trust me lets go." He frowned but gave in and so we made our way deeper in.

At every turn there was more dragur trying to kill us, we fought them off each and every time. Whether they came at us with sword, axe, mace, or even bow (Who knew they could shoot! I thought they were blind or something.) We defeated them. Eventually we found a trap of blades on pendulums. "What now genius?" Sven said clearly still angry about being here. "Well…I got a plan but you won't like it." I told him. "O really what is it? What could you possibly due worse than what's already happened."

"Well…this." I said closing my eyes and running forward as fast as I could. I heard the swishing of blades and knew at any second I'd be dead but miraculously I made it through alive! I tripped on the other side and opened my eyes to see id made it through. Then I heard the popping noises and knew I had to work fast. I turned to get back to the hallway to find a way to deactivate the blades. I saw a chain and figured pulling it probably deactivated them but before I could reach it the dragur reached me. I had no choice but to fight at least six of them by myself. When the first came for me I turned and smashed it with my shield so it fell into the blades. I didn't have time to watch my handiwork sadly because three of them decided to attack me at once. I used my shield to block the blows of two of them and blocked the third with my sword. I wasn't sure what to do next so I kicked out and thankfully it tripped one of them up. I used the space to get out of the way and sliced off one of their heads. Then I stabbed the second and stabbed the one id knocked down. The last two weren't so difficult. A well placed bash with my shield to off-balance one and then a stab took care of one and for the other I sliced of its arm. The Dragur looked at the missing limb and walked forward anyway so with the next swing I lopped of its head and it fell to the ground slain. With the dragur dead I pulled the chain and Sven walked in to the room and looked at the bodies. "Wow either your better than I thought. Or you're completely insane" he started to grin "eh I'm just awesome." I admitted as we walked forward. Eventually we made it to a room that was unlike any other. The surrounding walls were full of pictures and it was a dead end. The wall at the back of the room was huge and ornate. It had some symbols on it in three different pieces. As I walked closer I realized it was made into three sections. Each section was a circle with three different symbols. A bear an owl and a moth and below them was a circle shape with holes in it.

"I think that's where the claw goes" I told Sven. "Then put it in so we can go!" "Wait this puzzle is probably like the pillars from earlier. Watch" I took out the claw and sure enough there were three symbols on it. So I attempted to move the sections of the wall and it turned out they could move! When they were turned they revealed a different symbol so I turned the three sections until they were aligned with the pattern on the claw. Then I placed it in the whole and the sections all began to move forming a new pattern then the wall opened up leading down an new path. I turned to Sven with a smile "See this is easy" "Sure you say that now watch something bad is gonna happen."

We walked into the passage way and it lead us into a cavern that even had its own little waterfall. The place was beautiful if not kind of odd. We saw a staircase that led downward and followed it to find a bridge and a few more dragur in the way. After we dispatched those we simply had to keep walking forward. The place wasn't too hard to navigate and finally we came to a large doorway. "The treasures gotta be behind here." I told Sven excitedly. "Yeah or more dragur" he said non enthusiastically

We opened the door and saw a huge chamber. At the back of it was a raised platform with a chest and what looked like a coffin next to it. The back wall on the raised platform was different and carved on. Something about it called out to me. I couldn't even help it I started walking towards it like I was entranced. As I got closer I heard…voices. At first they were faint but the closer I got the louder they became soon they drowned out Sven's complaining and became all I could focus on. As I got the wall I reached out to touch it then light shot out of it! But it wasn't light, not was like smoke, or something ethereal. Whatever it was it began to lift me into the air and then the smoke began pouring into my body, my mind, my soul. It flooded my senses seeping in through my skin, eyes, nose, and mouth. It was everywhere and filling me with a sense of power. The voices reached a crescendo as the light disappeared and dropped me on the ground on my hands and knees. As the voices stopped a single word left my lips. "Fus." (It means force. how do I know that you ask reader? No fucking clue!) Sven reached my side freaking out "What the hell just happened to you?!" I looked at him confused and slightly dazed "I...I don't know. We need to leave." I didn't want to tell him about the voices. I thought he'd think I was insane. So we walked to the chest and opened it up "Just a lame Axe." Sven said disappointed while I picked up a stone off the alter it had writing on it and I figured it was important so I dropped in in my pack. At that moment however the coffin flew open and out came another dragur. "Shit I got it." Sven said walking up to it. But before Sven could dispatch it the creature looked at him and shouted something in its guttural language. Whatever it said though caused Sven to go flying of the platform. "SVEN!" I shouted scared the thing had killed him but I didn't have time to look before the dragur attacked me. He was different than the others. He was far stronger and faster. He fought much better than the others. It took everything I had to keep up with him. It even succeeded in getting in several good hits on me. I was bleeding and growing tired but the dragur seemed fine and kept up its onslaught. When I tried to block a particularly nasty swing it booted me in the shield and sent me stumbling back. when I landed it hacked away at me determined to kill me. I thought I was done for when an arrow came out of nowhere and shot it in the shoulder. The dragur roared annoyed and looked around. This brief opening was all I needed. I jumped up and stabbed it through. It gurgled in anger and agony and fell limp. Sven walked back onto the platform bleeding from a head wound. "Fuck that was bad. Hope your happy. You got magicked by a wall and I got my ass kicked by a corpse." I patted him on the shoulder and took out two healing potions. After we drank them and saw our wounds begin to close we went up the staircase and out into the sun.

I can't even lie we sat there outside the doorway yelling and cheering like idiots. We defeated Dragur, bandits, and giant spiders! We had finished the quest and were most importantly alive! We navigated down the mountain and made our way back to the village. The first stop was to the trader. We handed Lucan the claw and he practically jumped for joy. He paid us and I told Sven id see him later I saw the look him and Camilla were sharing so figured he needed his space. So I went to Alvor to sell my loot and pick up my sword. It was finally done! The blade was a very dark color and wicked sharp. This was a nice sword. Good for slashing and stabbing unlike the rapier id been using. I thanked Alvor and he told me "Anytime boy. Just remember when you're out there to stab the right people." I laughed and told him I would and went to the inn to wait for Sven. Eventually he showed up grinning like an idiot. "Camilla was grateful I take it?" I joked "O very." He said with a wink. "This adventuring stuff aint so bad. So where to next?" he asked sitting down. "O I thought you were done adventuring the way you kept complaining." I teased. "Well I've decided it's actually fun so for now I'll stick with you." He said with a smile "Great, then were headed to Whiterun. Let's get moving." "What but Camilla's waiting for me and we just sat down!" "We have to talk to the Jarl and we can rest when we get there. It's not too far away right?" "True…" he sighed "Fine let's go."

So we headed off on the most uneventful adventure off all time. It was just hours of walking and listening to Sven sing. The only mildly exciting thing we saw was a dead giant apparently some people called the companions had killed. So with that we made it to Whiterun and were stopped at the gate by two guards. "What is your business here Redguard?" "We were sent by Gurder from Riverwood to speak to the jarl." I told the guy figuring if I said dragon they'd call me nuts. "The Jarls not seeing anyone right now." The guard said bored. "It's important. We have to see him!" I said "Well if that's the case you can go shove it up your" "HEY!" the other guard cut him off "Quit being an ass. They got a right to see him if it's important." He said then looked at us. "The Jarls busy a lot so he don't have a lot of time for seeing people. And it's late so he won't see you tonight. Go to the bannered mare. It's an Inn up the hill tell the owner that Ned sent you. She'll give you a discount on your room. Now be safe and stay out of trouble. Welcome to Whiterun." We thanked the guard and he let us inside.

Seeing as it was late we went straight for the inn. I told Sven to take care of the room while I sat down at a table. After sitting and looking at the fire for a bit a woman sat down next to me. She was a rough woman in armor. Her hair was brown and long and she looked like she was more than handy in a fight. I decided to be nice and say hi. She responded with she was looking for a fight. So naturally I was confused when she continued saying "You can learn a lot about a person from a fight with em. How about it 100 septims on a fist fight. Me and you." She gave me a grin that didn't seem to pleasant but I figured no way im backing down so I agreed. This was my biggest mistake of the day.

She attacked me with the ferocity of a troll that was on fire! She smashed me clean in the jaw and it was in that moment I learned fist fighting a woman in armor is the worst idea ever! So I had to learn to dodge and move avoiding her blows and ended up hurting my hand punching her armor. People began to cheer and root for either me or her as we fought around the bar. (Well it was more of small tactical retreats while she tried to turn me into paste) Sven however decided to egg her on yelling things like "Come on! A one handed Granma could fight better than you! Put your hands up! Stop running and hit him!" to each of these comments I responded with a "Shut up Sven I want to live!" as she started to tire I get in more jabs at her but it wasn't easy. I knew I'd be sore in the morning even if I somehow won. In the end it came down to luck. The two of us were both battered wrecks and I managed a lucky punch on her chin and she went down. The crowd cheered and I plopped in a chair thankful it was over. After a bit nto catch my breath I walked over to her to make sure she was ok. I took a swig from a healing potion and gave her the rest. After she drank she sat up and grinned "Some fight! You've got skills. I wonder what else you can do." "I think she likes you." Sven whispered "Shut up Sven." I whispered back. "Tell you what why not room with me for the night? Free lodging and then tomorrow we can travel together! I've been looking for someone to make things exciting anyway." She said with a wink. "Uhh that's ok I've got a room already!" I told her quickly "Shame." She said with a shrug "Wasted your gold" she grabbed me and carried me off to her room while Sven laughed and I prayed to the gods for that dragon to come back.

What happened next I don't think you need to really know about reader but I will say this…it wasn't that bad surprisingly. Anyway now I need to sleep. We do have a Jarl to visit in the morning and I've got no idea when my kidnappers gonna decide we should "learn more about each other" again. So farewell until the next entry dear reader person.


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